Gordon Foods

Project Details: The Gordon Foods center in Grand Rapid, Michigan includes seven acres of offices, distribution centers, and warehouses. This area was constantly being flooded by stormwater because the connection point to the sewer was approximately nineteen feet deep and was backing up. Robert J. Berends, P.E., the consulting engineer on the project, teamed up with StormTrap to help mitigate this problem. A DoubleTrap infiltration system was designed to be placed underneath the parking lot next to the main office building that would allow water to flow into the system via inlet pipes. Then, a portion of water would infiltrate back into the ground, and excess water would flow to the outlet pipe at a controlled rate.

Challenges: A major challenge while designing the system was the extremely tight space with which there was to work.  Also, the building had to remain open during the construction process, so the installation had to be efficient and well structured.  Moreover, there were a number of existing utility lines that could not be moved and had to be worked around.

Solution:  In order to solve the issue of limited space, a DoubleTrap system was specified because it provides additional water storage by going deeper rather than expanding the footprint. Additionally, metal shoring was used around the edges of the hole into which the StormTrap system was to be placed, and this alleviated the need to excavate a larger area. The timing requirement was met by preplanning and efficient installation. With a crane, the 80-piece system took approximately a day and a half. Robert J. Berends, P.E. describes, “From a shipping standpoint, it was extremely well coordinated and fit together as planned.” The issue of the existing utility lines was solved by placing the inlet and outlet pipes underneath the existing lines so as not to disturb them. Robert J. Berends, P.E. discusses his experience with StormTrap, “as a great experience from initial conceptual layout work, question and answer, finalizing designs and approving drawings, and overall a great experience.” “The StormTrap provided”, as stated by Berends, “a much better solution as it minimized footprint and allowed for better land usage.”